Improved portable gas-apparatus and carburetter



A. ROOT su J. D. GUSTEP.. PORTABLE GAS APPARATUS AND CARBRE'EI?,g No.97,122.

Patented Nov. 23, 1869.

Witness Inventorzh ESI LWQJM' j @anni States @aient (utilita MARCUS A.ROOT, 0F PHILADELPHIA, AND JACOB D. GSTER, ,0F

Nonrus TOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. n

Letters Patent No. 97,122,

dated November 23, 1869.,

IMPROVBD PORTABLE GAS-APPARATUS AND CARBJJ'RETTER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part or! thesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, MARCUS A. ROOT, ofPhiladelphia, and J ACOB D. OUsrnR, of Norristown, Montgomery county,both in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Portable Illuminating-Gas Machines; and we do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, rnaking apart of this specication, in which Figure l represents, in perspective,an exterior view of the apparatus;

Figure 2 represents a top plan of the interior arrangement, as itappears when the top or cover is removed Figure 3 represents a'longitudinal vertical section, through the machine; and

Figure 4 represents, 1n perspective, the blowingwheel, with portionsbroken away to show the form of the buckets and chambers with it.

Similar`- letters of reference, where they occur in the several separatefigures, denote like parts of the apparatus in all of the drawings.

For the purposes of portability and economy of space, our inventionconsists in a cast-iron case, divided into three chambers, and in orupon which case are allthe chambers, appliances, and gearing for puttingand maintaining the ,rnachine' in opera-- tion.

And for the rapid and uniform transmission and saturation of the airwith the hydrocarbon-vapor, our invention 'consists in apeculiarly-constructed blowingwheel, revolving in and through the liquidhydrocarbon, in connection withsuitable inlet and exit-avenues fortaking in atmospheric air and carburetting it, and driving it throughvaporizing-chambers for a secondary surcharging of it, and thence to areceiver', main, or to the bumers.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, wewill procecd'to describe the same, with reference to the drawings.

A represents a rectangular cast-metal box, divided, in its interior bythe vertical partition a, and a horizontal partition, b, into threeseparate chambers, marked, respectively 1, 2, 3, of which chambersthose, 1 and 2, when the cover B is screwed down, arc inaccessiblefr'o'm the exterior, except through or by means of valved orcontrollable passages, whilst that, 3, may have a door, C, through whichaccess is had to it, and air-holes for supplying air to a burnorheaterarranged therein. l

The chamber 1 we term a well, or wheelhouse. as it contains ahydrocarbon of any bf the known or used kinds for. carburettingatmospheric air, by passing the air 'over or through it, or in contactwith its vapor, or all three.

I n this chamber is hung, by its shalt a', sothat rt can be revolvedtherein, a blowing-wheel, I),l of peculiar construction, as will behereinafter' more particularly described.

On the exterior of the case A, and at one end thereof, is arranged aretaining and driving-mechanisrrr, which is driven by a falling weightattached to the cord or chain b', wound around the drum c,ror by acoiled spring in said drum, or by any other -wellknown firstmoving-power. On this drum c, or fastened to its shaft, is a coggedgear, E, which works into a pinion,`d, on the shaft e, giving motion tosaid shaft, and through it tothe gear F. which drives tlre. pinion fandits shaft g.`

Connectedwith the wheel F, and its sliarnthe're are a crank, ratchet andspring-paw] j, and pinion k, for winding up the weight or spring whennecessary to do so.

The shaft g, fig; 2, extendsv into the chamber 1, and has upon it acegged gear, l, that works into a pinion, m, on the shaft oftheblowing-wheel, and thus the blowing-wheel is driven. h

An air-pipe, n, that projects through the case, and its exterior endcontrolled by a valve that closes ,outward, and further protected bywire gauze, to preveninsects or crude-matter from entering, as well asto protect the gas orv vapor from igniting, is 'arranged in the chamber1, which, extending downward to near the centre of the wheel D, extendshorizontally into the head of the wheel, and tlrenceprojects upward tonear the interior perimeter of said wheel, as clearly seen in tig. 3, sothat the exterior air drawn tbrouglr said air-pipe 1r, by the rotationof the blowirrg-wheel and the burning of the carburetted air, or itsescape from the carburctting-chamber,' to be hereafter described, shallenter near the top of the interior of the wheel, and, by the peculiar'shape and form ot' the buckets therein, be carred in contact with thehydrocarbon in the well, and become partially saturated thereby, orcarbnrettcd toan extent. l

The buckets in the blowing-wheel I), of whcl'l there may be any suitablenurnbe'r, are what may be termed winged buckets that is to say, thebucket proper, G, is that portion of it which extends. from head to headof the blowing-wheel or cylinder', and in oblique lines, as slrowu infig. 2.; and the winged portions of each bucket are seen moreparticularly at H H', fig. 4.- The wing H, as, seen in said figure,project-ing rearward, and the wing H projecting forward, so that thebucket G, and its,l

two wings H H', shall extend. jointly about halt` 'way around the wheel,as shown by the characters 4 4 4 4 in said iig. 4.

In addition to the wings to each of the buckets, there are angularplanes at 5 5, in cach bucket, the object and purpose of which angles ordeflections arc to cause the air that is carried through them, or in orby them, to be brought with more certainty, and fora greater period, incontact with thc hydrocarbon in which the wheelturns.

Thebuckets, from their extreme length and shape, not only prevent theair from going straight through the wheel, but the -point of one wingbeing so far in advance ofthe other, and dipping into the liquid, far inadvance of its rea-r portion, the air, by the. filling of the buckets,by the liquid being driven out of each bucket into-the wheel-house abovethe fluid, and the gasoline being driven from bucketto bucket, with someagitation, in its transmission through the blowing-wheel, when and`where it (the air) comes in contact with the liquid, and becomescharged with its vapor, so much so that its transmission through thecarburetting-chamber may be quite rapid, and still it will he abundantlycharged to burn with a bright light.

The Wings of the buckets, where they come to and funn the heads or endsof the blowing-wheel, overlap each other, and are open, as at 6 6 afterthe manner of blowing-wheels in general, ,so that the atmospheric air,as well as the liquid, may have forcedv transmission through aid wheel,the air going in at one side or end, and coming out at the other, and inso doing is forced iutointimate contact with the liquidvaporzing-material in which the wheel turns.

On the blowing-wheel D, and on that side or end of it, for convenience,next to the carburetting-chamber, and near its perimeter, is arranged aseries of lifting-cups, 7 7 7,', which dip into and ill with thehydrocarbon as they pass through it, 'and as they come around to the topofthe chamber, or neariy so, they lpour out their contents into areceiver, p, whence it ows through a. pipe, q, that has a series ofholes in it, or through a series of such pipes that overlie the pan I,so as to distribute the hydrocarbon uniformly throughout said pan.

From the pan I, the hydrocarbon passes through an opening, lr, into asecondpan, J,below it; this second pan being furnished with a vseries ofpartitions, s, that are open at alternate ends, as at t, so that thehydrocarbon must liow through all of the passages between saidpartitions, before it reaches the exit-opening u, through which itfinally passes on to the partition-plate b, which forms the bottom of'the carburetting-chalnber, and is corrugated, for several purposes:first, to prevent it from cracking by shrinkage or contraction ofthemetal in cooling, as itis cast with and a part of the enclosing box orcase; second, it affords more surface for the conduction of heat throughit, from 'the heater in the chamber 3, which heater may be a very smalljet of burning-gas taken through the hole c from the gas-pipes on top ofthe apparatus; and third, it forms drains or drips,

through which the hydrocarbon may flow to'a comy mon opening, w, whenceit passes again into the well or chamber l.

The object of the heating-chamber is to prevent the hydrocarbon frombecoming chilled, and to incite its volatility'.

The pau J may have in it any suitable absorbingmaterial, as cloth, felt,moss, shvings, wool, cotton, sponge, or any other animal or vegetablesubstance, so as to takel up the hydrocarbon and increase4 itsvaporizing-property, and allow the air to passl into.y

and through it.

the hydrocarbon, or its vapor, is driven through an opening, x, in thewall a, into thc space underneath the first pan J; thence upward andover said pan, and between it and the pan I; thence over the pan I, andthrough the meshes of' the gauze-wire screen y, and to the burners liK', or to the receiver or main, as may best suit the use or purposes ofthe apparatus.

lhe primarily-cliarged air, whilst passing through thecarburetting-chamber, is in immediate contact with the vapor therein,and every atom of it is charged to its greatest capacity, which itcarries with itto the burners.

The burner K is placed over and communicates with the chamber 1, inwhich the air is less charged with the vapor, and would ordinarily burnwith a. less bright light, though at times would be suiiicie'ntlvbright.

The burner K is placed over and communicates with thecarburetting-chamber 2, where the air is sometimes` so highly chargedwith the carbon-vapor as to causev smoke in burning, not being able totake in the quantity of oxygen necessary to consume it.

But to avoid, or, lather, to compensate for either contingency, weconnect the two burners, K and K', or any other number used with theapparatus, with a communicating-pipe L, controlled by stop-cocks z,

so that thc differently-charged vapors may be com mingled in' suchregulated proportions as will cause the flame to throw oii a bright orsubdued light, as may be. desired, or as their charged condition mayrequire, and at either burner-,as the burners are, like all others,controlled by cocks or cut-offs.

The machine may be supplied with its vaporizingmaterial through a cappedopening at N, and an indicator is arranged at M, having a tioatextending up into it, from the surface of the liquid in the weil, and aglass, or other transparent heathso that from its exterior, the 'heightot' the liquid in the well, which must always be below the airsopenng x,can always be seen when necessary to examine the condition of the supply.

The supply-opening, the indicator, and the heating-chamber, should allbe secured by locking or otherwise, so that no one but the proprietor orthe attendant can have-access to or meddle with the interior working oi'the apparatus.

This precaution, together with the covering of such openings or passagesas communicate with the charged air in the interior, with wire gauze, orits equivalent dame-resisting medium, will put the appa ratus beyond'thepossibility of any casualty due to the ilamabilit-y of the vaporizedair.

A click may be arranged to act in connection with one ofthe pinions ofthe driving-gear, by which 'the machine may be stopped from working,Ashoul'd any leak in the gas-pipe or fixtures occur.

To keep the shoulder of the shaft closeA 11p-against the box or packingthrough which it passes into the interior of the wheel-house, andpreserve said joint tight, n pressure-spring, 8, may bear against theend ot' said shaft, to move it or hold it in such working position.

And this-shaft g, instead of beingon the same' horizontal plane with theshaft of the blowing-wheel,

which it is intended, through its gea-ring, to drive, and which lattershaft would, as va general thing, be below the surface ot' the'-gasoline, may enter or pass through the case above that line, or above.the liquid, and still drive, through its gear, thc pinion onvtheblowingwhecl shaft. I v p `Having thus fully described our invention,andl 'shown its operation, we would state that we are laware lthatcarburetting-z'ipparatus has been encased inwario'us waysiythat ablowing-wheel has been op =era`ted in fa hydrocarbon-liquid, and that'buckets have been used therewith, and that coal-gas and atmospberic airhave been mixed or mingled with tbe carburetted air. These things we..do not claim, but hereby specially disclaim; but

What we do claim herein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is'

1. The box or case A, cast in one piece with its partitions a; b, so astc comprise kwithin it the two chambers 1 2, made and arranged for thepurpose and in the manner described.

2. In combination with a carburettingfapparatus, the blowing-wheel D,composed of winged buckets, with deecting-snrfaces, as and fortbepurpose herein described and represented.

3. In combination with the blowing-wheel I),

constructed and operating as herein described, and

revolving in a well partially filled with a. hydrocarbon,

the liftingcnps 7 on said wheel, for carrying np from the well th'ehydrocarbon that is to supply thel emburetting-chamber, and flowing ittherein or thereto,

substantially as described.

4. In combination with a. carburetting-apparatus, in which the air issubjected to two distinct 'charging-operations, 'a burner .and cock,connecting

